Crow and a Jar
by MKofGod
Summary: The only demons in the clearing are the ones standing like specters over her boys' shoulders. It's always the quiet ones.


Crow and A Jar

By MKofGod

Sabedoria

She is small and tiny, hiding behind Ino. Iruka notices her in the way that all good and compassionate people notice the quiet ones, but he's distracted by the blond loudmouth trying to throw a water balloon out the window, and Sakura passes out of mind. She looks at Sasuke sitting in the center of the room and turns away, focusing on the growing sun in the corner of the room, the sun whose radiance is still hidden between clouds of insecurity and hate. She sits down in a non-descript chair by the window and waits.

_Cuidado_

Her grades are perfect. Sakura is top of her class in academics, even if her physical abilities lack. However, she is quiet and shy and she makes a point not to flaunt her grades (_why draw attention to herself so early in the game?)_ so everyone is convinced the cocky brunette who looks down her nose at anyone worth knowing is the next great kunoichi.

Only the teachers see the spark of intelligence carefully hidden by Ino's loud voice and Sakura's careful walk in her shadow. Iruka walks up to ask her to demonstrate a technique he _knows_ she can do (_he just has to prove it)_ but Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru and Naruto are darting out the window while his back is turned, and so she is left behind in favor of yelling after the escaping miscreants. When Iruka turns around the bell has rung and Sakura is gone.

_Discrecao_

Second year in the academy and Sasuke has become a smashing hit. The girls are squealing, putting all their mediocre ninja skills at work to stalk him. They even manage to steal some sacred object from his locker to put in their homemade shrines. Sasuke stops bringing a change of clothes to school and Naruto declares himself Sasuke's eternal rival, but neither Ino nor Sakura pay any attention. Sakura's eyes are firmly glued to her book (_Sealing Tactics in I-Jutsu_), and Ino sees no reason to pursue Sasuke if Sakura isn't _(doesn't_) playing along.

Sasuke disappears into their corner of the room in a futile attempt to get some peace and quiet. Sakura pushes over a scroll on chakra control and hides her smirk.

_Ironia_

Her grades are fantastic (j_ust like_ _before)_, and she is considered (_just as_) useless in taijutsu, with (_just as much_) potential for genjutsu so she's placed with (_her_) Naruto and Sasuke.

Sakura gazes off in the distance while Naruto screams of his dreams and desires at the top of his lungs. Her eyes flicker to him when he declares himself the next Hokage and she hides her satisfaction by leaning back on her hands and feigning indifference. When Sasuke speaks of death and revenge and false strength she rolls her head to look at him, unable to hide the scorn.

She says her dream is to become strong enough to recognize her own foolishness.

(_She wonders what Kakashi made of _that_ barely cryptic comment, the sadistic mind-bending creep.)_

_Descisao_

She is average. Average, average, average, keeping her cover to the best of her (_impressive_) ability until somehow (_how did she slip?)_ Zabuza moves in a way she didn't expect, didn't remember, didn't predict, and now Naruto's about to be skewered and he doesn't even _realize_.

Sakura's mission (_to save Konoha_) and her desire (_to save Naruto_) flash before her eyes in two separate paths and it's not even a choice.

Her chakra-enforced legs send her into the air, one leg lifted in a kick that would rip a lesser man's head off. As it is, it leaves a crater six inches deep in the scorched and soaked earth. A panting Mist-nin stares at her through narrowed eyes. Sakura doesn't blink but returns to her station before anyone _else_ knows she moved.

In the heavy mist, Naruto assumes Zabuza's aim was off and no one notices.

_Lembranca_

It's here. They're in the forest, the wind snatched Naruto from her grasp, but it isn't the wind that worries her. The woman – fake, wrong, _dead_ – steps out, and Sakura doesn't give her – _him - _a chance to speak. Her punch sends Orochimaru flying, but Sakura doesn't look to watch the fake body hurl through three dead and rotten trees. She's already tearing into the real one, lips curled up and feral.

Orochimaru hisses at her, but Sakura smells victory just beyond the next blow (_and the next, and the next._) Sasuke tries to be a hero, but Sakura blocks him out with the skill of the jounin she was – _is –_ and the cunning of a woman accustomed to dealing with a reluctant and drunk Hokage, the idiot who managed to wrest away the title (_and become the best damn Hokage in history_), and a team of unruly genin assigned to her when she turned eighteen.

(_She's also the woman who saw them all die, in one form or another, because Orochimaru infested Sasuke with his curse_.)

She thrusts her hand into Orochimaru's chest and pulls out his still beating heart to splat it against a tree trunk. Orochimaru isn't dead of course, since her nimble fingers just missed the snake, but he's staring at her with genuine fear. About this time Naruto reappears and distracts her long enough for the Snake to slither away. Sasuke is unmarked but silent, staring at her like she's a demon.

The only demons in that clearing are the ones standing like specters over her boys' shoulders and Sakura snaps at them to move out.

_Sacrificio_

She pushes them like there's a ghost on their tail, because in Sakura's mind, _there_ _is_. When they reach the tower, she lingers just long enough to register them as a team – shell shocked and bloody as they are – and returns to the hunt. She tracks down Orochimaru just before he tries to leap into a new body. The battle is long and drawn out, with many explosions and thuds and craters, and by the time it's done the whole world knows Orochimaru is _here_.

He's also deader than a doornail pinned down by a kunai.

They also know Haruno Sakura is no _genin_, but Sakura just smiles at the jounin closing in around her and gnaws her tongue clean through. As blood splurts from her mouth and dribbles down her chin in a scarlet current, her eyes latch on Shikamaru who is holding back a sobbing, screaming Ino.

Shikamaru's eyes narrow at her so Sakura grins triumphantly at Kakashi-sensei (_whose eyes are very dark and angry_) before she blacks out from blood loss.

_Decorrencia_

Sakura's body is under heavy guard but it's more of a formality. The Yamanaka clan reports that some large and older entity took possession of the young Haruno's mind, but they can't say when. It's gone now, they assure the Sandaime. They also throw around words like brain damage, irreparable, and coma. Kakashi leans against the wall with his book out. He hasn't turned a page in two hours. The Hatake turns and walks into the room where two boys and a girl wait anxiously for news.

Sasuke shoves off the wall, Naruto bounces up from his chair, but Ino just lifts her head, the mascara she's too young to wear running down her face in black streaks. Yamanaka Ino is the only one who knows enough to guess the true consequences of what happened.

Kakashi talks slowly, making sure that everyone (_even Naruto_) know that Sakura won't be waking up, and even if she did…

Ino finishes for him.

"She'll be gone."

_Monumento_

Four years later Shikamaru goes AWOL, taking a young boy from ROOT with him. Tsunade breaks down the gates of Konoha and storms into the Hokage's office, demanding to know where Shizune went.

On the other side of the country, a gigantic statue is shattered like glass and Madara finds himself out maneuvered by Shikamaru's intellect, Sai's talent with a pen, Shizune's poison and Itachi's eyes. Akatsuki goes down in black flames, black ink, black shadows and black blood from black poison.

(_They scatter cherry petals over the mass grave.)_

Finalizado

~/~

...I'm sure you're all thinking, why is MKofGod posting_ this_ when she has another time travel story waiting for her to update? The answer: it wouldn't leave me alone, and I figured I might as well let you know I'm alive and kicking.

For those who are following Holding Destiny, I have not given up on it and I don't intend to. However, a _lot_ of work needs to be done before I can post the next chapter. Thank you for your patience, and please bear with me a little longer.

The words in order (translated from Portuguese):

Wisdom, Caution, Discretion, Irony, Decision, Remembrance, Sacrifice, Consequence, Monument, and Finalized. (Discretionary Note: my computer didn't have the accents required, so some of the pronunciations are wrong)


End file.
